Eighth Sunday Ordinary

Eighth Sunday Ordinary
February 26, 2006

"I will espouse you to me forever... in right and in justice" (Hosea 2). "You are our letter, written on our hearts... written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. (2 Corinthians 3: 1-6). " Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?" (Mark 2: 18-21)

Hosea compares our life with the Most High to a loving and dedicated marriage. Those of us fortunate enough to have a person in our lives upon whom we can rely as a life long friend, lover and soulmate have a unique window into our life with God. Not much in this life gets us any closer than this. Whether or not we have such good luck, the Holy One of Israel is courting us. Often we are too shy, fearful and reluctant to allow the kind of intimacy with which this persistent Lover pursues us.

St. Paul refers to his beloved friends in Corinth as a living letter of reference written by the Holy Spirit directly on our hearts and bodies. Accompanied by this he did not need any recommendation written on paper or law engraved in stone to be accepted by another community. How would our local and world communities look if we all carried one another in the Spirit around with us as letters of introduction? No one would be a stranger or an outsider.

Jesus answers a question about why he and his disciples do not practice asceticism (lasting) like the Pharisees and John's disciples. He says that while the "bridegroom" (the Messiah) is still present we should be in a rejoicing mode. There will be plenty of time later for fasting when he is gone. When is the Messiah with us, and when not? When should we be rejoicing and when in mourning and penitence? Are we thinking only of the Messiah's physical presence, or also about God's presence permanently living in our hearts and bodies? My own recent experience tells me that this is more than an historical reference to the life and death of the Messiah.

My Sicilian grandmother always wondered why we should deliberately deprive ourselves of the sacred gift of food when it was available. She still carried the memory of times and places in the old country when it was never certain there would be enough to eat. We should partake without guilt while it is available. Of course, we all have times when we could benefit from intentionally foregoing something good as a reminder of the unfinished business of the transformation of our world into eternity. Nevertheless this is a permanently new time with the Spirit of the Messiah in and around us. As Jesus says, "new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” New age, new rules

Eighth Sunday Ordinary

Eighth Sunday Ordinary
February 26, 2006

"I will espouse you to me forever... in right and in justice" (Hosea 2). "You are our letter, written on our hearts... written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. (2 Corinthians 3: 1-6). " Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?" (Mark 2: 18-21)

Hosea compares our life with the Most High to a loving and dedicated marriage. Those of us fortunate enough to have a person in our lives upon whom we can rely as a life long friend, lover and soulmate have a unique window into our life with God. Not much in this life gets us any closer than this. Whether or not we have such good luck, the Holy One of Israel is courting us. Often we are too shy, fearful and reluctant to allow the kind of intimacy with which this persistent Lover pursues us.

St. Paul refers to his beloved friends in Corinth as a living letter of reference written by the Holy Spirit directly on our hearts and bodies. Accompanied by this he did not need any recommendation written on paper or law engraved in stone to be accepted by another community. How would our local and world communities look if we all carried one another in the Spirit around with us as letters of introduction? No one would be a stranger or an outsider.

Jesus answers a question about why he and his disciples do not practice asceticism (lasting) like the Pharisees and John's disciples. He says that while the "bridegroom" (the Messiah) is still present we should be in a rejoicing mode. There will be plenty of time later for fasting when he is gone. When is the Messiah with us, and when not? When should we be rejoicing and when in mourning and penitence? Are we thinking only of the Messiah's physical presence, or also about God's presence permanently living in our hearts and bodies? My own recent experience tells me that this is more than an historical reference to the life and death of the Messiah.

My Sicilian grandmother always wondered why we should deliberately deprive ourselves of the sacred gift of food when it was available. She still carried the memory of times and places in the old country when it was never certain there would be enough to eat. We should partake without guilt while it is available. Of course, we all have times when we could benefit from intentionally foregoing something good as a reminder of the unfinished business of the transformation of our world into eternity. Nevertheless this is a permanently new time with the Spirit of the Messiah in and around us. As Jesus says, "new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” New age, new rules

Seventh Sunday Ordinary

Seventh Sunday Ordinary
February 19, 2006

"Remember not the events of the past... see, I am doing something new..." (Isaiah 43). "For the son of God... was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes”... (2 Cor 1). "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. (Mark 2: 1-12)

The prophet tells us that the Most High has no "memory" for our weaknesses and failures but sees what is new and fresh. There are also many places in our sacred writings where just the opposite is declared, that God remembers every fault and misstep. So, which one is it? Perhaps it is both, depending on our point of view and attitude. If we devote most of our lives to remembering every slight and hurt ever done to us, it would make sense that our image of God would be punishing and vengeful. If we have desired a forgiving heart that avoids keeping track of all the wrongs in our lives, our image of God would be similar. Most of us have some of both attitudes, much like these two aspects of God in the Scriptures. Every human image of God is inadequate. We choose the images which elicit what is highest and best in us and downplay what is not.

. St. Paul, on a similar theme, says that the son of God was only a "yes". Many of us feel a relentless oppression of guilt no matter how hard we try to be worthy of love from God and others. But freedom from guilt is not something we can earn by effort, no matter how many good deeds we do or prayers we say, God's absolutely free overlooking of our pasts is the only way out of this prison. Gradually allowing the Most High to rid us of slavery to the past allows us to experience every moment as a divine gift of something new. Embracing the Spirit's "yes" to truth, beauty and goodness within and around us is a sign that our eternal destiny has already begun.

The paralytic in the gospel story, unable to do anything for himself, relies completely upon his friends' confidence in Jesus to heal him. This, for obvious reasons, is one of my favorite passages from the gospels. Was this man also afflicted with ALS? If so, chances are he could not even speak on his own behalf. No matter, the paralytic is all of us, totally dependent on God and one another. Just as he was lowered down through the roof where Jesus was, he would later be raised up as Jesus was and we all will be. It was not only his personal trust in God, but more importantly the trust of his community of friends which brought about his transformation. This is a prototype of the human community and the church. Our healing and our future are in each other's hands and hearts. When we say "yes" to one another we imitate God's "yes" and exponentially increase the power of faith beyond anything we can do as individuals.

Six Sunday Ordinary

Sixth Sunday Ordinary
January 12, 2006

"The one who bears the sore of leprosy... shall declare himself unclean... (and) shall dwell apart....” (Leviticus 13). "Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God," (1 Cor 10:31) “See that you tell no one anything, but (do)... what Moses prescribed;...” (Mark 1:40-45)

In the Torah Moses tells the people about how to deal with the dreaded disease of leprosy, declaring oneself unclean and staying apart from the people presumably so that it was not spread to others. Isolating was all that anyone knew to do to protect the community. Only in the past few decades has a treatment become available and it was learned that the disease is not highly contagious. Such a disease was also considered to be the result of God's anger at the unfortunate victim. This passage is a good example of the need for caution in taking the Bible "literally" or as an infallible scientific authority.

Jesus has compassion for a man with leprosy who is pleading to be healed. Without contradicting Moses' law on the matter, Jesus nevertheless does not avoid contact with one who would have been considered unclean by his contemporaries. Instead he touches him and the person is immediately returned to health. He then is told to go and observe the legal requirement to be declared clean by the religious authorities. It does not seem to be part of Jesus' agenda to undermine the established spiritual authority. He said in another place that he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.

Jesus, as often in Mark' s gospel, cautions him not to tell anyone about what has happened. But the man goes away unable to contain his excitement and talks about it with anyone who will listen so that Jesus was mobbed wherever he went. Various explanations have been offered about why Jesus often wants people not to talk about their miraculous encounters with him. Perhaps he knew that we are inclined to do exactly the opposite of what we are told, no matter what the issue. If you want something to get out, tell people it is a secret. If you want someone to act in a certain way, forbid it.

St. Paul remarks about not giving offense to anyone, secular or religious, regardless of their beliefs or point of view. Most of us have had the experience of being on the receiving end of this, treated as unworthy of belonging to the company of human beings or God. We might want to think about who we regard as "lepers". Most of us have people in our lives who we would rather avoid because they represent something "unclean", unacceptable or foreign. God's healing and compassionate touch, far from being owned by any group of true believers, is offered freely to anyone who longs for it.